Islanders volleyball looks to continue resurgence in SLC tournament

A&M-CC volleyball faces Oral Roberts

GEORGE GONGORA/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES
Ivy Baresh and the Islanders face Oral Roberts in the opening round of the Southland Conference tournament Friday.

CORPUS CHRISTI - This will be the second Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but it's the first time the Islanders really have a shot at doing anything in the postseason.

A&M-Corpus Christi shed 12 years of negative history this season, setting records for wins, winning percentage and conference victories. That added up to a third seed in the tournament, which begins against No. 6 Oral Roberts at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Conway, Ark.

It has taken 12 years for the program to get to this point. The players and coach Tony Graystone had to be patient as well as the pieces fell in place.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity for four years, and so has Tony," said Shannon Hullum, the team's only senior. "It's been a long process, but we finally have it, and we plan on doing a lot of good things at this tournament. We're not done yet."

Graystone, who was hired four years ago to rebuild the program — yet again — knew he had finally assembled the team to break through. After 12 years and one winning season, NCAA probation for violations that occurred under the watch of a prior regime and a few listless seasons in the Southland, it was just a matter of getting everything in place.

"We kind of knew what we were dealing with," he said. "You're always a little unsure when you first start about if they will be as good as your expectations, but this group has been pretty consistent all year long. I think they might have been a little surprised about the success they had early, but I think they grew into it."

The Islanders jumped out and defeated conference favorite — and eventual No. 1 seed — Central Arkansas at the start. They went on to beat every conference team at least once, except Sam Houston State, the second seed.

A&M-Corpus Christi (21-10, 12-6) had to fight through a small level of separation at the top of the conference, with the top six teams in the league, including Oral Roberts (15-14, 11-7), picking up at least 11 Southland victories each.

"We have a good group of girls that are put together," Hullum said. "We worked hard, because we knew we wanted to be here at the very beginning. Everybody worked their butts off to get here every single day."

Junior setter Logen Bourque suggested that might not have been the case in the past.

"I think we're more unified this year," Bourque said. "The past years, there have been the majority of people really wanting it and really working hard, but not everybody. This year, it's been the entire group working hard."

There had been issues for most of the previous 12 seasons. The Islanders had only one winning season — in 2001, beating six SWAC teams and a Division II opponent to accomplish that.

A&M-Corpus Christi did make the Southland tournament in 2006, getting beat in the first round as a No. 7 seed. They won seven games that year.

The team had been close to making the postseason the past couple of years under Graystone, fighting injuries and just missing as he brought in more and more talented young players.

After all that, why not have bigger goals?

"Just simple pride," Graystone said. "We wanted to finish as high as we could. You hear the clichés about being happy to be in the playoffs, and that's where we are, but I do think we can go up there and do some damage."